Best Shells

I am SURE that this question has been asked before but I am going to ask it again. What is the best or the most liked/most reliable/dependable shell out there? I have shot the drylocks, the Kent Faststeel, Black Clouds..........what are the thoughts of the site?????

I typically hunt over larger ponds, lakes, big water............

Bull Dawg"Whack Um and Stack Um..."...............

"We do not stop playing b/c we are old; We grow old b/c we stop playing."

Bull, I've been shooting the Winchester Drylok's since they came out (bought two cases of BB & #3) and I am still shooting them up. My hunting partner tries all the new stuff - he had been shooting Federal Black Cloud for the past several years and was very pleased with their performance on waterfowl. Over Thanksgiving he bought some of the Remington Hyper Velocity shells (BB & #4) to try; now he swears they are the best yet. I can tell you one thing, we closed the season on Saturday and I was hunting near him in the water - he fired one of the Hyper Velocity shells about 15 yards away from me and the noise startled me - even hurt my ear from that far away. I will put more distance between us next time. A guy hunting 40 yards from us thought he had fired a bad shell due to the excessive noise. He did reach out (approx 45 yards) and knock down a Teal with the #4, but I can't stand the extra noise myself for the gain.

I swear by Black Cloud and Winchester Xpert Hi-Velocity. I won't shoot any other ammo. However I have never tried Hevi-shot and next season may be a trial run for that. I will say that I will NEVER shoot Remington Hyper-Sonic shells again. They ain't worth a crap!

jcsanders79 1/31/2011I've been using Kents and Rio's. There is not a best shell for every gun. Use a pattern board.

Yep. Go pattern your gun. After a year of crappy shooting last year and switching all kinds of shells throughout the season, during the summer I went out and patterned my gun with some different loads. There was one shell (Federal Premium Waterfowl Load 3" #3s) that patterned much better than anything. I could tell a huge difference this season.

"Old school hunters used to say...if you can't land 'em on the water, you're not a duck hunter."

I've been shooting Black clouds for a while and really like them. But this year it was hard to find them so I ended up trying the hevi metal shells. I have never shot something that patterned this good. Also when I bought the hevi shot choke to go with them they are whisper quiet compared to most shells.

After I saw waterfowl downed with steel shot fly away and escape before the hunters could retrieve them, I stopped using steel shot. I never saw that happen with lead shot. Now I use Hevishot, Remington HD, Federal Heavyweight and Kent Tungsten Matrix.

Pattern your gun. It will tell you what it likes. I shoot 3 inch #3s. Whatever is on sale. While I have shot tungsten matrix and tungsten steel, I don't feel the added expense is worth it. Just get out ahead of em more and you will have more dead ducks on the water. Good luck